The Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will shut down for an entire week from August 11-15 in order to accommodate a new computer system, a project that has become more complicated due to enactment of a law this year that allows illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses.
The high volume of illegal aliens applying for driver’s licenses in the state is causing significant delays in citizens’ ability to obtain appointments for their driver’s permits and licenses. The number of illegal aliens applying for driver’s licenses in the state was initially estimated to be about 55,000 over the next three years, but there have been that number of applications since January 1 when the law was put in effect, reports WTNH.com.
The delays in licensing services have made headlines recently due to an email that was sent out earlier in the month to the state’s driving schools by Commissioner Andres Ayala’s office, directing the private schools not to blame the delays in services on the illegal aliens’ driving program.
According to the Hartford Courant, the email from the DMV’s driver education department to the driving schools falsely claimed “additional staff was hired and appointments were added to allow for testing of undocumented applicants without negatively affecting test scheduling for legal residents of Connecticut.”
“Please refrain from telling parents and/or students that this is the reason for the wait times for appointments,” the email said. “Please ensure all members of your staff are aware of these facts and ask that they refrain from providing incorrect information to parents and students regarding wait times for appointments in our offices.”
Ayala’s apology followed the revelation in the Courant that waiting times for learner’s permit and driver license test appointments had tripled from last year to 2015.
“It was a mistake. I take full responsibility for that mistake,” he said regarding the email.
He admitted that, contrary to the message sent in his office’s email, the longer waiting times for Connecticut citizens to obtain driver permits and license test appointments are a direct result of an “onslaught” of illegal aliens applying for driver’s licenses.
In his apology email, Ayala said that despite attempts his department took to “rebalance” appointments between illegal aliens and legal Connecticut residents, the waits for legal citizens were still lengthy, with a learner’s permit knowledge test having a current wait of several months compared to only a couple of weeks last year. Similar extensive waits for road test appointments are occurring this year as well.
Connecticut’s Democrat-led legislature pushed through the bill permitting illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses in 2013.
Brandon Dufour, owner of All-Star Driver – the state’s largest driving school – said last week that the DMV “sent driving schools an email asking us to only use the talking points they provide…The DMV’s mismanagement of the [illegal aliens’] drive-only program is the main reason for these delays…In a democracy, government agencies don’t get to require talking points for private business.”
Since it is likely DMV will experience long lines once the week-long closure ends on August 18, the state is allowing those whose license or registration expires that week an additional 60 days to have it renewed.
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